Quy Nhon

Woke up early this morning to get some last shots of Hoi An. The light was perfect and not many people about except for the Vietnamese doing their chores and eating breakfast on the sidewalks. It was a great way to remember the place.

By 9.00am we were packed up, fed and checked out of the hotel. Destination: Quy Nhon. More importantly, Rosie and Huw's place, the Haven resort. We are really looking forward to this part of our trip. But first, we need to endure the six hour drive south which is only 320 km, but the average speed is pretty slow due to traffic congestion and the state of the roads.

The drive along Highway 1 is hard going, but has lots of interest. Rice fields were being harvested with rice being carted every which way and dried along the verges of the road. The built up areas gave way for long sections of open fields broken only by a village every few kms. Some areas looked prosperous and organised, others shabby and poor. Reminders of the American war were never far away. We passed the turn off to Son My village where the My Lai massacre occurred.

We saw some more stunning examples of Cham towers as we approached Quy Nhon. These were individual towers perched on high points overlooking the plains and sea. If anyone built something like that today in such locations, I think they would be called 'statement pieces'. They certainly must have had a powerful impact on the local people of the day.

Finally got to Rosie's place - the last 10 kms were a bit of a challenge. The driver had virtually no English and despite getting some instructions from our travel agent and the Hoi An hotel people, he really didn't seem to have a clue. We helped direct him as best we could and finally found the turn off to Haven from the main road. Followed a little concrete path down into Bia Xep village until he could go no further. After that it was a matter of dragging our suitcases 300m through the village to the beach's edge with a little help from a local lady.

It was so great to see Rosie and Huw. Their place looks incredible and has such a wonderful aspect onto the sea and surrounding headlands and islands. We quickly settled in for the evening and a lovely meal, content to be at a place we could call 'home' for the next week and with such terrific people.